Gallery hopping in NW Portland

I had some time to go gallery hopping today in Northwest Portland. My first stop was Froelick Gallery where I saw the work of Joe Feddersen.

Feddersen is a Washington artist who works in glass and makes prints. Monotypes really. He prints his photographs using a large format inkjet or small laser printer onto very nice Japanese paper and then silk-screens and spray paints on top. This series of work is a layering of pictographs. Some are ancient petroglyphs, some are based upon street art, and some are like icons or clip art. The image above is based upon a photograph of one of his glass pieces; the same glyphs rendered as glass charms hanging against a wall. This photo is printed onto translucent paper in black and white while more glyphs layer on top.

Many of the prints hang infrared on the walls so you can really put your nose right up on them. This work really resonated with on a technical level, but I also love work that builds upon itself in iterations and loops around referencing itself.

Next I went to Augen Gallery, right next door. Right inside there is a lovely small John Baldessari print (sold of course, now that he’s a deceased legend) and a grab bag of fun big prints. In the back room of the gallery is a lovely, moody painting of two women curled up on comfy chairs in a darkened room.

This painting is by Mark Andres, I’ve seen his work in the back room at Augen before. I really like the loose rendering and moody color. This couple (friends? sisters?) sits together and alone. I sort of want to join them, but not make too much noise. I don’t want to wake up the woman on the right.

After visiting Augen I realized I forgot to pay for parking so I sprinted back to my car. Lucky!

I drove west out of the Pearl District up to Northwest to visit Russo Lee Gallery.

Ko Kirk Yamahira’s deconstructed canvases fill the front room. These minimal canvases have one or two colors – one has a black and white image – but have been very carefully uncover and disassembled. On close inspection, you can see that the canvas has been pulled apart thread by thread. I appreciate these on an intellectual level. I like to imagine big minimal abstract paintings from the late 1960s pulled apart slowly like a cheese pizza.

But emotionally these feel like 70s macrame and my mind immediately wonders about all the dust they must collect.

The back room at Russo Lee shows work by Audrey Tuliiero Welch. These big, brushy paintings are layers of paint and plaster and broken bits of found imagery from maps and diagrams.

I liked these on a visceral “paint is yummy” kind of level. These paintings are thick. What looks like hard lines are taped off areas of a whole other thick painting underneath. I imagine a heavily painted false start, allowed to dry, taped up, and painted over. The tape is pulled back to reveal the painting’s own history.

Seen any good art lately?